Criminal Minds: Evolution has been off to a good start for season 19, but episode 3 truly had a twist. While a case drew attention for seeming to connect to the Sicarius killer, it was obvious Elias Voit was likely not involved. But how did he use it to his own advantage?
The case revolved around Kaliyah Burke, who went missing along with her daughter, Avery. She had been having dinner with her sister, Ryleigh, before she went missing and hadn’t been seen since. Four years later, when Kaliyah’s car was found submerged with Avery’s body inside, the authorities called in the BAU. A Haeberlin case similar to the kits Voit used was found nearby, leading them to believe he had committed the killings.
Criminal Minds: Evolution finds Sicarious becoming connected to an old case
While the BAU didn’t think he was involved, they still needed to look into it in case any possible victim family members wanted answers. When Voit saw the crime scene photos and learned about the case, he agreed to take them to Kaliyah’s body. However, he never outright confessed to the murder itself.
As Penelope was certain that Sicarius never communicated with Tristan, Kaliyah’s philandering husband, they still had to look into him. While Tristan was a piece of work and certainly didn’t act like a grieving father, he insisted he wasn’t a bad guy, meaning a killer. His morals may be skewed, but he was actually innocent.
The team realized that Voit only knew where Kaliyah’s body was based on his way of thinking as a serial killer. Having helped his Uncle Cyrus hide bodies in the same general area decades earlier, he also had an idea of where she would have been buried. Plus, the state Kaliyah was in would call for the death penalty, meaning he would be put to death for the killings. However, despite how much they despised him, the team knew letting him take the fall meant the real killers got away with it.
They slowly began to realize someone in the family had to be the killer, despite Agent Tyler Green being certain that couldn’t be the case. But he was operating with blinders due to his own personal loss. In fact, Rossi had noticed earlier that the touches Kaliyah had put on the house she inherited from her mother were gone and replaced with her sister’s own style.
The team arrested her husband, but he insisted on a lawyer. Rossi came up with the idea to have Elias Voit sit silently across from him. Now while we’re not sure of the ethics around intimidating someone into confessing by using a serial killer against him, it worked. As he confessed to what actually happened, Rossi and Prentiss spoke with Ryleigh and her father.
Ryleigh eventually admitted to being jealous of her sister and the attention she got. In addition to her feelings, she would not have been able to inherit her sister’s house since it was going to Avery. She convinced her husband, Jesse, to help her commit the crime, and they never told anyone, leaving her father stunned to hear the news.
As the team dealt with the arrest, Sicarius had to tackle his own feelings surrounding the fan mail he had been getting. While he was used to the usual, he was caught off guard when he received pages of some sort of manifesto with only the words, “I am not pathetic,” written in different types of shapes. It was basically a pushback from the Brian Garrity podcast, in which Voit had called the listeners pathetic. Will he tell anyone about this, or will he hide it?
This episode was really interesting and came with a twist at the end. While it was obvious from the beginning that Kaliyah’s case did not fit Voit’s M.O., it showed how his notoriety allowed Ryleigh to get the idea to frame him in case her sister’s body was discovered.
We also got to see how Agent Green was doing as a new agent. While he still has some growing pains when it comes to detaching himself emotionally from a case, Rossi had faith that he would turn out alright.
Plus, in a sweet gesture to help JJ and her boys, Penelope opened her home while they dealt with the move and worked with Luke to give them a camping experience indoors. Needless to say, it’s heartwarming to see the support the family is getting from their loved ones as they struggle following the loss of Will.
Fans are looking forward to the next several episodes, especially with the anticipated guest star in the form of Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie. In the meantime, make sure to catch up on new episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+.
Add us as a preferred source on Google